This year, the resort season kicks-off with the Christian Dior Cruise Collection designed by Dior head of design, John Galliano.
The show was staged in the massive bi-level 12,000 square-foot landmark event space Guastavino’s, which is located on Manhattan’s Upper East Side underneath the Queensboro Bridge. Gustavino, which became widely known after it was featured in an episode of Sex and the City where Sarah Jessica Parker’s character Carrie indulges in a Flirtini cocktail, is a former restaurant and boasts vaulted tiled ceilings, soaring granite arches, 40-feet high windows, and a stunning outdoor garden, which all made for a wonderful backdrop for Galliano’s colorful collection.
Of course, any John Galliano showing always attracts the glitterati and this year’s Resort Collection was no exception. Charlize Theron, who infamously wore a John Galliano number with an oversized bow on her shoulder to the Oscars in 2006, showed up looking stunning in a beautiful purple, deep-V, knee-length dress.
New mama Christina Aguilera was also there, in a skin-tight cream-colored top and pencil skirt, with her husband Jason Bratman.
Other notable attendees included Tinsely Mortimer in a classic red number, Anna Wintour, who was covered up in a white trench coat, and Gossip Girl’s Leighton Meester, who seems well on her way to becoming one of Hollywood’s newest fashionistas. Meester looked beautiful in a green, knee-length dress with a skinny belt.
As for the collection, it was fabulously colorful complete with orange, salmon, fuchsia, and lemon-colored sombreros and a blue-dragon backdrop.
The clothes were rich in deep colors and many of the pieces had wonderfully intricate beading. Clearly, Galliano was inspired by traditional Spanish dress as evidenced not only by the sombreros, but by the off-the-shoulder tops and traditional floral patterns he used for many of the looks. There were also tons of ruffles, similar to the ones adorning Jennifer Lopez and Charlize Theron’s dresses (both were wearing Dior and seated front-row at the Monday-night showing).
The Dior “it” bag of the season will likely be a stiff, egg-shaped handbag that was shown in a number of shades. Bows around the waist and big, bold jewelry, along with long, delicately flowing fabrics also dominated the collection and if Galliano’s Resort collection is any indication of what’s to come – it’s going to be a playfully, bright season!
